June 8 has been designated World Oceans Day by the United Nations. World Oceans Day reminds everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. They are the lungs of our planet, a major source of food and medicine and a critical part of the biosphere. The purpose of the day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans.

In honor of World Oceans Day, we have invited Sofía Nogués to speak about eXXpedition, an all-female around-the-world sailing voyage dedicated to studying the presence of microplastics in the seas and oceans and the effects of these toxic and incredibly long-lasting products on humans, and especially on women. In December 2019, Sofía joined eXXpedition as they sailed a 10-day leg from Aruba to Panama. She will share her experiences, impressions and stories about this unforgettable voyage. 

This special edition of La Lucha Continúa is cosponsored by Democrats Abroad Barcelona and the DA Spain Women's Caucus. 

LET'S CONTINUE THE FIGHT

MAKE A DONATION TODAY

Make a donation using the form on the left or join our sustaining donors Margin of Victory Club.

Are you interested in joining the Democrats Abroad Margin of Victory Club and making a monthly donation? Would you like to use Paypal to make a donation? Contribute to Democrats Abroad through ActBlue. 

Every dollar you give supports our work to elect Democrats who will fight to make a better life for ALL Americans.   Join us by making a donation today.

Julia Bryan, Chair - Democrats Abroad

We need Democrats like you to commit to Democrats Abroad - your Democratic Party for overseas Americans. Contribute to Democrats Abroad today and help us register Americans all over the world for the 2021 and 2022 elections, reach out on issues that concern you and build a brighter future for our country and the world. With your help, we can make the difference. We did it all over the country in 2018! And we MADE the difference in 2020! And in Georgia in 2021! And we will continue to fight for Democratic victories and for issues that our members care about!

If you are unable to contribute online, send us a US Dollar check with this form to the following address.

Democrats Abroad
PO Box 15130
Washington DC 20003
USA

Thank you for your support!

On-line credit card contributions made to Democrats Abroad are secure, encrypted transactions made via Stripe.

Donations to Democrats Abroad are not tax-deductible.

By Ryan Turner 

International Relations Professor and Chair of the Madrid Chapter of Democrats Abroad

On April 9, 2016, Democrats Abroad Spain will have the pleasure and honor of hosting U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus who, at our Annual General Meeting, will be sharing (among many things) her personal story with us. She, like so many Americans, has immigrant roots and will be discussing this issue with us at length. Her story and voice on the issue is a welcome contrast to the hate-slinging rhetoric we are constantly bombarded with from Republican presidential campaigns. Their rhetoric is so vile and dismissive of our country’s past and history that you’d think both republican candidates’ families had been immaculately conceived in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave… Families so purely American that their lineages actually trace back to bald eagles that cried tears of freedom into the soil of Plymouth Rock where their forefathers sprouted from the ground while The Boss’s “Born in the USA” blared from sea to shining sea. (Seriously that’s what they sound like.) But no, both of the Republican frontrunners are the products of immigrant families, one of them the son of Cubans that migrated to Canada and then America and the other of German descent from the clan of Drumpf.  

Let’s face it, America is a nation founded by immigrants and slaves. EVERYONE in America is tied to immigration or slavery. Sure, Native Americans were here, but according to the last U.S. Census, only 0.9 percent of the total U.S. population identified itself as Native American or Alaskan Native. So basically, that leaves the other 99.1 percent of America. It’s hard to imagine how a country MADE UP of immigrants so easily ignores that fact. The truth is that we don’t talk about it and when we do, immigrants and minorities usually end up getting demonized, whether it’s being blamed for American job loss or for violent criminal activity.  With candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz leading the Republicans, it’s clear that America’s fear of immigrants has been exacerbated and is now oozing like a bad case of acne that has contaminated the surface of conservative political platforms.  

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if the issue weren’t so important but the fact is that, by 2018, America will have created 2.8 million jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and the problem is not whether or not immigrants will be taking those jobs from Americans, but whether or not America will even have enough qualified laborers to fill those jobs.  America is looking at a massive deficit in human capital and despite what conservative pundits will have you think, America’s population is shrinking while demand in new innovative sectors to create more jobs is increasing.  This is a recipe for disaster that immigration alone can’t fix, but could definitely help.  

Besides the economic need for immigration in America, it should be a matter of principle. Comedian Dave Chappelle had a character on his hit show Chappelle’s Show named Clayton Bigsby who was a blind white supremacist. The only caveat was that Clayton Bigsby was African American and never knew it. It certainly pushed limits, but it was a hilarious comedy bit because the parallels were eerily familiar. Has America become Clayton Bigsby? Ninety-nine percent of our population is from somewhere other than America. How seriously can the world take us (who many countries consider to be a “young” country) if we can’t even remember who we are or where we come from?

As Democrats we believe that a diverse nation makes us a stronger nation, because we come from every nation. We have the advantage of getting the best ideas from everywhere and our immigration policies affect how the rest of the world views us. We should embrace immigration and own it. It is, after all, who we are.     

And this is why, in this volatile time in history, we as Democrats Abroad Spain chose to dedicate our Annual General Meeting to the topic of immigration, focusing on it being a source of strength in our heritage and our future, with Democrat Americans living in Spain sharing their stories that stretch back to every continent.